The April 27, 2011, tornado outbreak was the second-deadliest in U.S. history, and the deadliest since the Doppler Radar system has been used to warn communities. Alabama has been involved in six of the 10 deadliest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history.

On March 11, 2011, the Great Tohoku Earthquake occurred approximately 70 kilometers off the coast of Japan. This magnitude 9.0 earthquake was closely followed by a massive tsunami that reached 7 meters in height. Using NASA

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Researchers based at the University of Pittsburgh have developed a method for predicting dust and sandstorms that uses infrared satellite images to determine when conditions are ripe for the destructive phenomena, a technique that could be implemented globally and that the research team used to forecast a 2008 New Mexico dust storm-the area's largest in decades-two days beforehand.